Sunday, September 30, 2012

Five Plum Peas and The Salad Game

These games will help to grow the brains of infants and toddlers. Whether it’s through singing, dancing, cuddling, rocking, talking, smelling, or tasting, you can encourage the brain pathways to make new connections.

Now you should have your hands palm to palm, with the finger tips touching.

As you say "they grew and they grew" you start moving your hands apart, showing bigger and bigger . . . slow it down . . . stretch it out . . . by the time you get so big "that the peapod" you should be reaching as wide as possible then on "POPPED" you clap your hands together very fast and very loud.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence –“ Show me how you made the pea pods pop.”

For developing the idea –“ Can you say “pea pods pop” slowly? Now can you say it fast?”

For moving forward – “What other words start with the same sound as “pea pods”? (some ideas…pepper, potty, pickle)

If possible get a chef's hat to play this game. Choose one child to be the chef and she stands in the middle of the circle.

Each of the children sitting on the circle decide what food they would like to be if they were in a salad. Go around the circle and let each child tell you what food they are. If someone can't think of something, you can help them. It is okay for the children to repeat the same foods.

Say to the chef. "Chef, would you like some lettuce in your salad?" The chef answers, "Yes, I would like some lettuce in my salad."

Whoever is the lettuce (it can be more than one person) gets up and goes into the middle of the circle and stands next to the chef.)

Continue on until every child is in the circle. Then say "Toss the salad!" and all the children jump up and down until you say, "Time to eat the salad."

Children really like this game.

Song: Fruits and Vegetables by Jackie Silberg. Can be found on award winning CD Touched By a Song.

Ideas for taking this activity to the next level:

For building confidence - What do you like to eat in your salad?

For developing the idea – If you were making salad, what would you put in it?

For moving forward – When you go to the super market, what are some of the salad vegetables that you see there?

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About Me

Jackie Silberg (also known as "Miss Jackie" from her television years) is a highly sought after workshop-seminar leader, motivational speaker, and performer. With degrees in Education and Child Development along with graduate work in Piano and Composition, she can entertain and inform with equal ease.

Jackie has worked with thousands of teachers, parents and children presenting keynote addresses, workshops and seminars and family concerts. She appears throughout the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Germany as a speaker, concert artist and talk show guest including appearances on NPR's "Parent's Journal" and "All Things Considered." Activities from her books appear regularly in parenting and early childhood magazines, college texts and journals.